36 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GENUS CAREX. 
a. perigyniis rostro subabbreviato recto vel le¬ 
viter excurvo. 
C. anceps, Willd. iv. 278; Schlc.f. 128. 
b. perigyniis rostro breviori, repente excurvo. 
(Tab. XCI. Fig. 1.) 
** Spicis densifloris, oblongis, latioribus. 
u. major.\ ^ Tab> xcn ) 
b. minor. J 
c. gracillima. (Tab. XCI. Fig. 2.) 
C. blanda, Dewey. 
C. conoidea, Mnihl. (non Schk.'). 
C. anceps, var. striatula, Carey, ed. 1. 
B. Foliis latis. 
* Spicis laxifloris, cylindricis. (Tab. XCIII.) 
C. anceps, var. latifolia, Short. 
87. C. laxiflora (Lamarck); spicis 4-5 rarius 3-6 
cylindricis, terminali mascula elongata pedunculata ra- 
rins abbreviata sessili, reliquis fcemineis elongatis laxi¬ 
floris remotis, vel superioribus inserte vaginatis conti- 
guis, inferioribus longe exserte pedimculatis, infima saspe 
subradicali; bracteis inferioribus culmo brevioribus; stig- 
matibus 3 ; perigyniis triquetro-ovalibus utrinque atte- 
nuatis obtusangulis apice leviter excurvo vel subrecto, 
ore liyalino integro oblique secto, nervosis pallidis, 
squama acuta vel obtusa rarius truncata plus minus 
cuspidata vel mutica albo-hyalina nervo viridi longiori- 
bus vel (infimis cuspide) brevioribus.—C. laxiflora, Lam. 
Enc. iii. 392. C. striatula, Mich. ii. 173. C. anceps, 
Sclrn. et Tor. 343; Dewey, Sill. x. 36 ; Carey, Gray, 
Dot. 554. ed. 1 ; Sartwell, Exs. n. 95. C. ignota, Dewey, 
vi. (ser. 2.) 348; Sartwell, Exs. n. 97. (Tab. LXXXIX.) 
Hab. Connecticut to Florida. Oregon, Nuttall. 
Culmus 1-H-pcd., gracilis, vel latior, angulis acutis, scabris, 
basi foliis vaginatis, rudimentis foliorum pallidis tectus ; pars 
spicas gerens 4-15 poll, longa. Folia 2-4 lin. lata, culmo bre- 
viora, plana. Beaded 1 11-4 lin. lata, omnes, nisi suprema in- 
terdum setacea, spicis suis longiores : inferiores multum (sape 
omnes) culmo breviores. Vagina infima 2| poll, longa: 
superiores marginibus acutis, apice rarius undulatis. Ligula 
alba, membranacea, obtusa, fissa: infima demum rupta. Pe- 
dunculus infimus 2-6 poll, longus, scaber, acutangulus, basi 
compressus. Spica mascula 6-16 lin. longa, lineam lata, plus 
minus longe pedunculata, basi attenuata, rarius subsessilis, in- 
conspicua. Spicce fcemineat 10-19 lin. long;®, 1-2 lin. lata, 
omnes cylindricrc, remota, laxiflora, flosculis (1-2 supremis 
sape abortivis) alternatim dispositis, inferioribus magis distan- 
tibus: vel superiores interdum oblonga, subdensiflora, mas¬ 
cula contiguse: una vel altera basi, e perigynio prolifero, com- 
posita: rachis apice alternatim oblique flexuosa. Squamce 
albo-membranaceae, nervo viridi, demum mascula pracipue, 
pallide ferruginese: mascula lanceolata, obtusa, rarius acuta, 
nervo infra apicem evanescente, vel in supremis subinde extra 
producto: infima breve cuspidata: faun in ere acuta, rarius 
obtusissima, truncata, plus minus cuspidata, vel superiores 
pracipue obtusa, mutica. Perigynium 1^-2-^ lin. longum, 
To —nr lm. latum, plus minus apice attenuatum, leviter excur- 
vum, vel subrectum ; ore hyalino, oblique secto, integro, rarius 
emarginato. Achenium 1-1 T 6 - H lin. longum, T G —rn lin. latum, 
obovato-triquetrum, castaneum, punctulatum, basi styli obliqua 
vel recta apiculatum. 
This, I think, may be considered as the typical form of C. laxi- 
f.ora. Both Schkuhr and Willdenow refer the name of C. anceps 
to Muhlenberg, though in his £ Descriptio Uberior.,’ published 
eleven years after Schkuhr’s Second Part, there is no species so 
named. The only reference to C. anceps in it is, as a synonym, 
with a query, under C. plantaginea, to which Muhlenberg probably 
refered the broad-leaved variety. It is singular that if Muhlen¬ 
berg had this variety he should have omitted all reference to 
Schkuhr’s fig. 195. He quotes fig. 128, and yet, after giving C. 
heterosperma, Wahl., as a synonym, he adds, “ C. anceps, Schk. ?,” 
as if he had doubts of his previous reference to the figure of that 
species. Schlechtendal (Linnea, iii. 1835) refers all the specimens 
in Willdenow’s Herbarium to C. blanda, Dewey. In answer to 
Dr. Torrey, he says: “ C. anceps, 17,227: spec, folii primi a Muh¬ 
lenberg data sunt; secundi ab alio accepta. ‘ Carex, Wilmington, 
Carol, sept.’ Hac omnia ad C. blandam, Dewey, abs te acceptam, 
pertinent.” Yet Dewey (Sill. Journ. xxv. 144) remarks that the 
C. conoidea of Muhlenberg’s herbarium is C. blanda. It is im¬ 
possible from this confusion of specimens to quote accurately the 
synonymy of the varieties I have ventured to enumerate; but any 
one who will compare Dewey’s description of C. blanda with the 
fig. 128 of Schkuhr will find it impossible to distinguish the one 
from the other, and I have not hesitated to quote that figure under 
the second division of the varieties I have proposed. It has not 
the fully attenuated apex of the perigynium, nor the greater laxity 
of the female spikes, which I consider to be the distinguishing 
character of the typical form, and in so placing it I have the au¬ 
thority of Schlechtendal, who pronounced Willdenow’s specimens 
to be C. blanda. Dr. Torrey (Schw. and Tor. Mon. 343) says: 
“Willdenow received from Muhlenberg all the North American 
Carices, of which he has given descriptions, and the identical spe¬ 
cimens were by him communicated to Sckhuhr, who had no others 
from this country. This fact was told us by Prof. Willdenow him¬ 
self a short time before his death.” 
The varieties I have indicated will serve, I think, to make C. 
laxiflora better known. I can see no characters to justify a spe¬ 
cific distinction in the southern C. ignota. I find nearly the same 
elongation of the perigynium (2-2fL lin.), alluded to by Dewey, in 
specimens from Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and it is exceeded in 
this respect (2^ lin.) by the specimens I have from the Oregon, 
from Mr. Nuttall. The greater or less attenuation of the apex of 
the perigynium is in fact visible occasionally on one and the same 
specimen; nor is there a single character-, whether form of the peri¬ 
gynium or scale, length of the bracts or vagina, breadth of leaves 
or culm, but varies so much as to forbid of our availing of either 
for specific distinctions. Any one meeting for the first time with 
the specimens (Tab. XCII. Fig. 1, from Texas; and Tab. LXXXIX. 
from Florida), and comparing them, might reasonably consider 
they were different species; but on a larger acquisition of speci¬ 
mens, he would find intermediate forms that almost insensibly 
unite them: and the—perhaps inevitable—perplexity of the syno¬ 
nymy of Carex has arisen from species having thus been made 
from isolated specimens, rather than from a critical examination of 
the varied forms which now enrich our herbaria. I have had the 
opportunity of comparing my own with the very extensive suite 
of specimens in Herb. Carey, and the result is the tabular view 
here given of the varieties of C. laxiflora. 
With respect to the name of this species, that of Wahlenberg, 
published in the Act. Holm. 1803, should have had preference over 
that of Muhlenberg, published by Willdenow in 1805 ; but Lamarck 
had described it as early as 1789 (Ency. iii. 392) under the name 
of C. laxiflora. His description is, “ Spicis fcemineis filiformibus 
axillaribus erectis, flosculis distantibus, foliis planis.” “Ses tiges 
viennent en touffes, 7-9 pouces. Feuilles larges de 2)-3 lignes. 
L’epi male a peine long d’un pouce, droit, pale on jaunatre. Les 
epis femelles 3, filiformes, long d’un pouce, garnis de fleurs alternes, 
distantes, blanchatres, a ecailles mucronees et membraneuses.— 
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia.” 
Though Poiret (Suppl. Ency. iii. 243. 1813) quotes (under 
Lamarck’s C. laxiflora ) Willdenow and Schkuhr’s fig. 141, which 
belong to C. grisea, Wahl., this affords no evidence that he had 
seen Lamarck’s specimen, which Schlechtendal, judging from an 
authentic one in Herb. Willdenow (17,256), considered to be C. 
blanda. I have referred C. striatula, Mich., here, as his specimen 
in the Herbarium of the Garden of Plants at Paris clearly be¬ 
longs to the typical form. I have confined myself to limit the 
geographical range of the different varieties by the evidence derived 
from specimens in my own and Mr. Carey’s herbarium. 
